Retro makes some more changes----including saying goodbye to Albany

First off, a tip of the cap to blog brother Sam Wilson for the heads-up on this item.

This week, Retro has made some changes with their programming schedule, not much that you'd really notice. For example, their contracts for Daniel Boone, The Rifleman & Peter Gunn have expired, so those shows are off the schedule. Until Monday, all were airing on both Retro & Me-TV, and now will air only on the latter. They're finally getting around to adding the Beverly Hillbillies, which I addressed a few months back. The series will air on weekends as part of a double-play block lineup that also includes Hopalong Cassidy, which also airs weeknights at 6 (ET), replacing Daniel Boone, and Cisco Kid.

Among the other treats is The Colgate Comedy Hour, earmarked to air on Saturdays at 7 (ET), and The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, which has moved in to replace Rifleman weekday mornings and also airs on the weekends. The Nelsons were last seen in my district on the Variety Channel, before the Fox affiliate here swapped that network out for first Untamed Sports, and, presently, TheCoolTV.

Sadly, the ABC affiliate here is bidding adieu to Retro after the programming ends in the wee hours of July 1, and Retro will be replaced the Live Well network, which, according to Sam, is heavy on infomercials. Shoot, infomercials to me are only good if they're shilling music collections from Time-Life. Otherwise, bleah.

Coupled with Hopalong Cassidy in the 6 pm hour weeknights is a rural comedy that predated the Hillbillies by 4 years. The Real McCoys, a brainchild of writer Irving Pincus, debuted on ABC in 1957, and lasted for five seasons there before moving to CBS for a last hurrah in 1962. Walter Brennan & Richard Crenna starred. Here's the open......



I remember seeing reruns of Real McCoys in syndication back in the 70's, and while Irving Pincus laid the foundation, Paul Henning may have improved on the concept just enough, with his vision making the Beverly Hillbillies far more successful, lasting twice as long. I wonder if there weren't any claims of creative piracy in those days, though........

My take on Retro leaving my district is this. They lost viewers to Me-TV pretty steady over the year and change since Me-TV entered the market, and couldn't justify the expense it was costing the affiliate. I wonder if that's happened in other parts of the country.......